So Today Is The Day To Rant About Sexism

I have to be very honest and say that I don't experience it a lot in my personal life. I get most of it at work, and not from the company I work for, but some of our customers. A friend of mine once wrote "Some people are so ate up with the dumbass that it's not funny". Whether he invented that phrase or borrowed it is a mystery for me, but it always gives me a chuckle.

A lot of our clientele are male. We deal with athletic goods, some for a sport in particular that, while slowly becoming a "uni-sex" sport, is still largely male. Testosterone city. But that's OK. I love my job, I love the company I work for, and I love what I do, and for the most part, my customers are great. Every now and then, however, you get that one that just needs a reality check.

For example, the other day I was dealing with a company that I hadn't dealt with before. They sent in some scant information, and I got confused as to what they wanted, and consequently faxed them the wrong information back. I got a phone call from someone who worked there, with a head of steam on. He wouldn't let me finish a sentence. He frequently insulted me, telling me to get my head on straight and how could I not understand the obvious - and other niceties like that. Every time I tried to point out to him that the information he gave me was confusing at best, I was instructed to get my act together. Finally, unable to deal with him, I transferred him to someone else, hoping they'd be able to handle it better. They were equally insulted, I was insulted a little more for good measure, and then he transferred her to someone else who insulted her. As if that wasn't bad enough, she was then transferred back to the original insulter, who was asking her to do things she's not allowed to do so that it would work in his favor. She continually said no. He finally relented.

Two days later, he called back again. The person I transferred him to during his previous phone call answered. He was again requesting that we do things we aren't allowed to do. She again told him no. When he refused to budge, she transferred him to the manager. She explained the whole thing, and gave the manager a heads-up that he's not a nice guy. He said he'd handle it. After the call ended, he came out and we asked him how it went. He said the guy was NICE AS PIE to him and when he told him no to his request, he said OK and that was the end of it. We were both ready to pull our hair out.

It's a sucky fact of life that most women, even those in power, are treated differently than men. Most men would rather speak to another man, and will give them more respect. I can call a customer who is not being very helpful in the process at work a dozen times with no return call. I can be nice, I can make threats - doesn't matter. I turn it over to my production or traffic manager (both men) and they call back right away. It hardly ever fails.

We've discussed this in staff meetings. All of our front-line office staff are women. All but one of our next "level" of staff are men. They know the games that are played, and are always eager to help out and fix a situation for us. While we appreciate that, we shouldn't have to hand it off to someone else just to get a simple question answered.

What should it matter whether you give your answer to a man or woman? Honestly, you'll get the job done faster if you go direct to me. Going around me only makes the information have to flow through someone else, upping the risk of having something get lost in the translation, and lengthening the time that it takes for the information to be finalized. It also takes time away from someone who shouldn't have to be dealing with the problem in the first place.

But hey, what do I know?